---
title: The prince, however, used him as a shield to ward off the press of f… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The prince, however, used him as a shield to ward off the press of foes: while, with his sword, he defended himself against those in front of him. Who acts: prince, foes. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Battle of Calpe.—fate of Ataulpho., with its dependency tr
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Battle of Calpe.—fate of Ataulpho., sentence 46

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The prince, however, used him as a shield to ward off the press of foes: while, with his sword, he defended himself against those in front of him.

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**Who acts:** prince, foes · **What happens:** use, ward off, defend, press · **To what, where:** Tenderos, press, Prince

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Battle of Calpe.—fate of Ataulpho.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, foes), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:13:46
# text = The prince, however, used him as a shield to ward off the press of foes: while, with his sword, he defended himself against those in front of him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	ward	ward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
13	off	off	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	press	press	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	foes	foe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
19	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	defended	defend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
27	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	_
28	against	against	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	26	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | the prince | Tenderos |  |  |  | as a shield; however *property* | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Duration as shield=Attribute |
| 2 | **ward off** | to-infinitive | the prince *not said here* | the press of foes and while |  |  |  | with Prince's sword | tree rules |
| 3 | **defend** | past | Prince | Prince |  |  |  | against those in front of Tenderos | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary against that=Theme |
| 4 | **press** |  | foes |  |  |  |  |  | nom press «state intransitive»: of=agent |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Project Gutenberg book 77685 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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